I’ve seen this in my older version as well. I thought I was doing something wrong. Clearly, not.
A couple of us have posted about this over the past months - TPAI denoise struggles in large dark areas and produces this grid/waffle/checkerboard pattern pretty consistently. You may be better off boosting exposure before you denoise and then backing it off afterwards, as long as your image has sufficient dynamic range.
Would you mind sending in some more information to get a better understanding of the problem you are having with this particular type of image? Please send the following information:
- The original image file.
- The processed image.
- A screenshot or description of the settings panel so I can see what adjustments were turned on.
You can securely submit your image(s) to my Dropbox using the link below.
Please be sure to send me a note to let me know you sent something.
I’m getting these square grid shapes/artifacts when running RAW noise removal from file > plug-in extras > process with topaz labs photo AI in Lightroom Classic. See attached screenshot of what I mean - particularly in the sky however I’ve seen it happen all throughout the photo. It’s worse in low light shots.
Photo AI Version: 3.3.3 (log file is attached)
Attached system report from my Macbook Pro as well.
The only workaround I’ve found is to not use RAW noise removal, and instead to use the regular denoise enchantment after removing raw noise.
Is there a fix for this?
Steps to reproduce issue:
- In lightroom classic go to file > plug-in extras > process with topaz labs photo AI
- Photo opens in photo AI, applies RAW noise removal automatically
- Export back to lightroom classic as a dng. The square patterns and line artifacts are present on the dng.
2024-12-10-18-55-10.tzlog (15.9 KB)
Topaz Photo AI [v3.3.3] on [Mac]
MacBook Pro.spx (7.1 MB)
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It’s been there for a while now and reported multiple times over the last year+:
It’s particularly evident in dark areas and sections with minimal color variation (e.g., sky).
I used to have this problem in Topaz DeNoise, but it has reared its ugly head again in Photo AI 3.3.3 running on my M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 48 GB of RAM. My OS version is Sequoia 15.2. My workflow is to process the RAW file in Lightroom and then export to Photoshop. I then run Photo AI as a filter in Photoshop. I have my Denoise AI model set to Normal and my strength set to 22. I tried all 3 options for AI Processor, but that doesn’t make the checker boarding go away. I’ve only seen the checker board pattern in one photo and it has a dark background. A fix would be much appreciated, as this problem has been around for a long time. Love Photo AI otherwise!
We are merging all the forum threads onto this one; thanks for this. The development team is currently investigating this issue, and we have an open ticket with them. We will reply once a fix has been released.
Geometric pattern evident in Topaz Photo AI image after processing
Steps to reproduce the issue:
Sony A7rV
- Dark image
- Denoise
- PS up contrast and lower exposure
Not using PS and only Upscaling avoids the issue, but leaves the noise.
Topaz Photo AI [v3.2.0] on [Windows 11]
Would you mind sending in some more information to get a better understanding of the problem you are having with this particular type of image? Please send the following information:
- The original image file.
- The processed image.
- A screenshot or description of the settings panel so I can see what adjustments were turned on.
You can securely submit your image(s) to my Dropbox using the link below.
Please be sure to send me a note to let me know you sent something.
I have sent the RAW file - HHP04165.ARW
The file after importing to Photoshop and opening Topaz Photo AI, but with no Enhancements - HHP04165 PS -TopazAI before enhancements denoise.jpg
The file after importing to Photoshop and opening Topaz Photo AI, with Denoise Enhancements and settings - HHP04165 PS -TopazAI after denoise.jpg
After opening the file to Photoshop with Denoise, it is processed in Camera RAW.
HHP04165 PS Camera RAW withTopazAI with enhancements denoise.jpg
And the PSD of the Camera RAW edits.
HHP04165.psd
Best regards,
George
Thanks for sending in those files.
I’d like to get some more information about the machine you are using to help troubleshoot this problem.
Please send me your system profile information so I can check if your computer hardware is up to date.
You can securely submit your files(s) to my Dropbox using the link in our previous posts.
Thanks for following up on this.
I have uploaded DxDiag.txt to your Dropbox location.
Best regards,
George
Thanks for sending in that information.
I want to see if updating your GPU driver will resolve the problem, as there is a more up-to-date driver that has been released.
Please use the following link to update your driver: NVIDIA | GeForce RTX 4070 | Driver Update
After the update, let me know if you are still experiencing the problem.
John,
I upgraded the driver and saw the same pattern.
I will upload a current dxdiag file and a screenshot of the image.
Best regards,
George
Any further insights? I am seeing this pretty regularly now that I am looking for it.
Best regards,
George
I think this is pretty typical of denoising a very dark image in TPAI. Here are four versions of the same shot - arw denoised in TPAI 3.2.2, exported as a dng, and viewed in Capture 1 (the only processing TPAI is denoise):
The top left is the original arw +1EV,
the top right is the original arw +4EV and with shadows and highlights set to 100.
The bottom left is denoised in TPAI (raw-normal, strength 16) with the exported dng +4EV and with shadows and highlights set to 100.
The bottom right is denoised in TPAI (raw-normal, strength 50) with the exported dng +4EV and with shadows and highlights set to 100.
Similar results can be obtained in dark areas of other photos, suggesting that the denoise algorithm has difficulty in dark/low contrast areas and shows boundary effects when it subdivides the image for processing.
This is done on a W11 i8500 machine with intel graphics (no separate gpu).
-David
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Thanks for sending in that information, and my apologies on the delay of response.
I have included these files and examples to an open support ticket we have with our development team who are currently investigating why this might be occurring with this particular types of images.
We will be sure to reach out to you on this forum thread and if you have any other questions always feel free to send us an email at help@topazlabs.com 
I’ll add that this was shot on a Sony a6000. I see similar blocks on my newer Sony a6700, and I know at least some of the reports of similar effects were also Sony cameras (a7RV, A7RIII). Not sure if it’s related or just that Sonys are popular.
I’m also seeing some very interesting effects denoising the .jpg version of this image. I’ll try to do something a bit more systematic, but there’s some distinctly non-random segmenting going on.
I had exactly the same problem on the original version of Topaz Photo AI with both a Sony A7R3 and later a A7R5. Patterns just like yours as well as pronounced colour shifts. This led me to stop using Topaz AI until this latest version of 3.2.2 that so far appears, for me , to have solved that issue, at least on the images Ive put through it.
I went looking for a photo where I could see grid artifacts in a non-extreme case (i.e., not +4EV on the moon). This was shot at 1/2000s, f/6.3, ISO 1250 (Sony a6700, 12-bit lossy compressed raw). I tried to be more systematic, comparing TPAI import of dng’s exported from CaptureOne with direct import of arw’s, etc. Finally ended up looking directly at jpg’s and the general conclusions stay the same.
On the bottom left is the as-shot image (this is the arw exported without level adjustment from Capture One). It’s actually exposed about right for the hummingbird and feeder – adding much to exposure or brightness starts to blow out highlights. The top left is the same arw, but level-adjusted in C1 and then exported as a jpg. The right side is the TPAI denoise of the corresponding left side image. The top right has not been level-adjusted after denoise, the bottom right has been level-adjusted after denoise to match the upper row. Denoising the dark image introduces multiple artifacts: There is a grid pattern, a bright orange spot by the tail, and loss of color gradation in the dark regions (compare histograms, below):
Similar, but different, issues show up when working on dng’s. (I’ve also noticed that TPAI loses gradation at the high end with an almost-blown out dng, but that’s for another thread). I still don’t know whether this is a camera thing (most, but not all, reports are with Sonys), denoise algorithm, compression (the TPAI output jpgs are 10% the size of the input jpgs, but I’m exporting from C1 as highest quality jpg) or other. I’m inclined to think it’s not the camera, as the effect is present with jpgs generated external to the camera, and the grid (in this case) is ~475 pixels so it’s not pdaf striping or something like that. The artifacts also differ between jpg and dng and vary by photo. Also, if I take the dark jpg, read it back into C1, adjust levels, save it as a jpg, and then process that through TPAI, I get sort of an intermediate -no grids but also not particularly good noise reduction.
The upshot is that denoise works best when the input is pretty close, exposure-wise, to the intended final product. This becomes problematic in the raw workflow where denoise is the obligatory first step.
